Ortiz even drilled a homer, but it hardly was enough offense when the rest of the club accounted for one run in a 4-2 loss Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.

Stacked behind each other in the lineup, Geoff Blum and Ivan Rodriguez each went 0-for-4, helping to leave the bases loaded in the fourth inning, then failing to capitalize with two men on in the sixth.

“Frustration,” Blum said. “There’s no way to explain it. We had our opportunities. We didn’t take advantage of them.”

With the Astros trailing 2-1, Ortiz tied the score when he led off the fifth inning with a home run, depositing Dave Bush’s 88 mph fastball into the Crawford Boxes before a crowd of 29,344.

“I just tried to put a good swing on it,” said Ortiz, who suffered the loss after giving up three hits and two runs with two walks and three strikeouts over two innings. “I’m not trying to hit a home run. I hit it good enough. Sometimes that short left field comes into play.”

Long time coming

It was Ortiz’s seventh career home run and first since he hit one with the Braves at Turner Field on July 29, 2003, against the Astros’ Roy Oswalt.

Fulchino kept it close with three perfect innings, but the damage had been done.

“I was just a little off,” Ortiz said. “After that, I felt like I made pretty good pitches. But a soft single and a base hit and sac fly — those were the two walks that scored. So I didn’t end up doing my job.”

He wasn’t alone.

Bush held the Astros to seven hits and two runs with one walk and two hit batsmen over six innings. Hampton gave up two runs on three hits with three walks over four innings before exiting with a small cut on his left thumb.

“It happened in Chicago when I was showering (Sunday),” Hampton said. “I was getting soap out of the dispenser, and my finger slipped off, and it cut it. I knew I had it. I went out and played a little catch before the game.

“I kind of glued the wound so it wouldn’t open up. And then it opened up after the first (inning). It just didn’t get any better. I didn’t have a whole lot of feel for the pitches. I thought to be safe it’d be good to get me out sooner rather than later.”

Kaz Matsui led off the first with a double to right. Michael Bourn followed with a bunt single to the right side of the plate. With Lance Berkman at the plate and Matsui at third, Bush tried to pick off Bourn at first. As Fielder chased Bourn toward second, Matsui inched closer away from third and scored as Bourn weaved his way between first and second before diving into first safely.

Bush then walked Berkman, but he escaped further damage when Carlos Lee hit a double-play grounder to third and Miguel Tejada hit a grounder back to the mound.

Hampton walked Braun to lead off the fourth. Fielder followed with a double to left. Lee retrieved the ball near the corner and hit Tejada, the cutoff man. Braun hesitated after rounding third, but as Tejada waited to decide whether to throw home or to third, Braun broke home and scored as Tejada bounced a throw off him at the plate.

Hardy hits

One out later, Hardy gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead with an RBI double to center.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Bush hit Lee with a pitch. Tejada followed with a blooper to left, and Hunter Pence loaded the bases with a blooper to right. That threat fizzled when Blum popped out and Rodriguez hit a groundout to second.

The Astros had another scoring opportunity in the sixth after Bush started the inning by hitting Tejada and giving up Pence’s single to left. That threat soured when Blum flied out to center, Rodriguez flied out to right, and pinch hitter Darin Erstad flied out to right.